Catamounts deal Bulldogs first loss of season

Wednesday

Feb 29, 2012 at 10:18 PM

Eighth-ranked Georgia suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of Western Carolina on Wednesday in a 5-3 decision at Foley Field.

The Catamounts (5-3) struck early in the first inning, ending a streak of 22 scoreless innings by the Bulldogs’ pitching staff. Aaron Attaway led off the game with a single on the first pitch, and Dykota Spiess followed with an RBI double into left field.

Georgia freshman Pete Nagel settled in after allowing each of the first three batters to reach base, retiring the next three batters including two strikeouts.

The Bulldogs (8-1) recovered quickly after back-to-back singles by Conor Welton and Curt Powell to lead off the bottom of the inning. After a pop out by Kyle Farmer, Levi Hyams loaded the bases for Hunter Cole with just one out. Cole capitalized, beating out an infield single to score Welton and tie the game. Western Carolina’s Adam Curtis was able to get Brett DeLoach to ground into an inning ending double play in the next at bat to avoid a big inning and keep the game tied after one.

Western Carolina’s Ross Heffleyhit his first home run of the season in the third inning to put the Catamounts back on top, 2-1. It was the first homer allowed by Georgia this season.

The Bulldogs tied the game again in the bottom of the third as Farmer drove in Curt Powell on an RBI double into right field, making it 2-2. Peter Verdin gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth when he drove in Colby May, who reached earlier in the inning on a walk and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice, with an RBI double.

Western Carolina battled back in the next inning, however, tacking on three runs to regain a 5-3 lead. The first base runner of the inning reached base on an error by Farmer, then after Pete Nagel ended his day on a strikeout, Earl Daniels walked the only two batters he faced to load up the bases.

Ross Ripple came in to finish out the inning, however, he allowed an RBI single to Heffley, then walked Jacob Hoyle to bring in the second run of the inning. The final run came in the next at bat as Tyler White hit a sacrifice fly into centerfield to bring in Dykota Spiess and give the Catamounts the decisive tally.

“That fifth inning was all around the only poor inning we had from an execution standpoint,” Georgia coach David Perno said after the game. “We called on our stellar bullpen and unfortunately a couple of our guys didn’t have it in them tonight. It happens, guys are going to have tough outings we just have to be able to help those guys out and make up for their mistakes. Still, I thought Chase and Bryan did a nice job over the final four innings.”

Georgia returns to Foley Field at 6 p.m. Friday to open a three-game series against Western Illinois.

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